Japanese scarecrows: A series

Earlier in the summer, a machine wielding mannequin head scarecrow made a solitary appearance. But now, with Tokyo grown rice almost ready to harvest, the main crew have moved in. A somewhat disheveled rabble it has to be said, but their realistic features and vacant stares are as striking as they are unsettling.

A lovely collection. No exactly Wizard of Oz style. I wonder about their effectiveness. The field fed wood pigeons around here don’t even start to shuffle their lard arses into flight mode until you practically step on them, and some of the larger crows clump about with their farmer’s gait occasionally eyeing me as I walk past with a look that says “remember I’m descended from a velociraptor”. Maybe the mannequins are there to make the fields look lived in to other people. There is at least one rural village in Japan that has a population of mannequins to replace the lost real people. Even the closed down school has kids sat at the desks.

Can’t say I’ve seen a huge number of birds near there during other times of year, but when the scarecrows are out, I haven’t seen any at all. So presumably they must help. How much though is obviously very debatable.

Yeah, seen that place. But definitely no need for that here. Still Tokyo. Very close by there’s a convenience store, two love hotels and a busy road. So real people galore!

Great series …in color!
Pop star lookalikes to chase off jazz loving crows – they might start up with a number off their latest album any moment? Number two looks quite ‘new romantic’.
I would have happily accepted them as a series depicting the embodiment of country kami or spirit weasels until I got to episode number eight.